My brother [28M] wants me [26M] to sign over my half of our inherited apartment because I work in IT and he thinks I dont need the money.
My grandmother passed away about eight months ago and left her two-bedroom apartment to my brother and me. The will was dead simple, fifty-fifty split, no strings attached. At the time it seemed fine because we were both grieving and nobody was thinking about real estate. I have been working as a backend dev for a few years now and I finally hit a solid salary bump recently. I made the mistake of mentioning my new TC during a family dinner a few months back because I was proud of the grind I put in. Since then, the entire vibe has shifted from being happy for me to treating me like a walking ATM. My brother has been bouncing betwen retail jobs and gig work for his entire twenties and he is currently drowning in credit card debt because he keeps trying to fund a lifestyle he can not afford.
Last week he called a "family meeting" at my parents house and basically laid out why he should get the full ownership of the apartment. His logic is that since I am already making six figures and have a solid career path, the inheritance is just "extra" for me, while for him it is a literal life line that keeps him from being homeless. He told me straight to my face that it is unfair for me to sit on equity I dont even need while he struggles to pay rent. My parents are completely siding with him. They keep talking about "family equity" and how I should be the bigger person because I am the successful one. My mom even started crying saying that she did not raise me to be greedy and that I am probaly going to buy my own house in a couple of years anyway so why do I care about this flat.
It feels like I am being punished for actually finishing my degree and putting in the hours to get where I am. I worked through college while my brother spent his time partying and blowing through whatever cash he had on tech gadgets and clothes. Now that the bill has come due for his choices, my parents expect me to pick up the tab. They have started calling me every single night to guilt trip me. My dad even suggested that if I dont do this, it will basically fracture the family for good because they will always see me as the guy who let his brother fail just to see a bigger number in a bank account. They keep framing it as a moral obligation rather than a legal one.
I am looking for advice on how to handle the social fallout of standing my ground here. I have no intention of giving up hundreds of thousands of dollars in equity just because I have a high-paying job. How do I navigate the conversation with my parents when they keep using "family loyalty" as a weapon to make me subsidize my brothers life? I want to keep a relationship with them but the pressure is becoming unbearable and I need strategies to shut this down without becoming the villain in every family story for the next decade.
TL;DR: My brother [28M] and I [26M] inherited an apartment 50/50. My family is pressuring me to give him my half because I work in tech and earn a high salary, while he is broke. Need advice on how to set boundaries and deal with the guilt-tripping from my parents.